Jacob Dingel While the 2019 firearms deer season will open on a Saturday for the first time in decades, the Board of Commissioners will be intently studying the impacts of a Saturday opener and gauging hunter opinions about the new start date prior to setting seasons for the 2020-21 license year. Study to precede 2020 deer opener decision Game Commission to survey hunters after conclusion of 2019 season. Members of the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners met in late April with state House of Representatives Game and Fisheries Committee Majority Chairman Keith Gillespie (R-York) and Minority Chairman Bill Kortz (D-Allegheny) to discuss the Saturday opener to Pennsylvania's firearms deer season, which the board adopted when it set seasons and bag limits for the 2019-20 license year. Since 1963, Pennsylvania's firearms deer season consistently has opened the 43 Monday after Thanksgiving, and hunters clearly were split in their support of the change to a Saturday opener. Some who have been unable to hunt on opening day due to work or school commitments strongly supported the change. Some who travel considerable distances to their hunting spots, and now must do so earlier in the holiday weekend, strongly opposed it. Hunter concerns over moving to a Saturday opener prompted Gillespie and Kortz to meet with Tim Layton,